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Podcast title	Jack Benny Show - OTR Podcast!
Website URL	http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co...
Description	The Greatest Show on Earth!
Updated	Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:25:13 GMT
Category	Arts
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Episodes
1. Best of Jack Benny Spotlight Podcast! 1936-11-15 - Buck Benny Rides Again http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.68Mb) Description: Tuesday time for classic Benny Spotlight, this week the spotlight shines on Buck Benny! First Buck Benny episode!
2. Monday with My Favorite Husband (I Love Lucy) Podcast! 1948-11-13_0018_Learning To Drive http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.10Mb) Description: My Favorite Husband began on CBS Radio with Lucille Ball and Richard Denning as Liz and George Cugat. After a few early episodes, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Liz and George Cooper. The cheerful couple lived at 321 Bundy Drive in the fictitious city of Sheridan Falls and were billed as "two people who live together and like it." The main sponsor was Jell-O, and an average of three "plugs" for Jell-O were made in each episode, including Lucille Ball's usual sign-on, "Jell-O, everybody!" The 1948 radio version opened with: Announcer: It's time for My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball! Lucille Ball: Jell-O, everybody! Theme music Announcer: Yes, it's the gay family comedy series starring Lucille Ball with Richard Denning and is brought to you by the Jell-O family of Red-Letter Desserts: Singers: Oh! The big red letters stand for the Jell-O family, Oh, the big red letters stand for the Jell-O family, That's Jell-O! Yum, yum, yum! Jell-O pudding! Yum, yum, yum! Jell-O that's the awesome pudding, yes sir-ee!
3. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast! 1946-11-12 Mel Imitates Actors http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.05Mb) Description: More great Mel Blanc on Monday!
4. The Jack Benny Podcast! 1948-11-14 - Jack Is Worried Because Mary Is Late http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.71Mb) Description: Here we go! Reaction to the election of Barack Obama for President tied to our very own Rochester, with just a dash of Desi Arnaz thrown in for good measure!
5. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 48-11-13-Advice Column http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.31Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week! Happy Saturday everyone!
6. Friday with Fred Allen, Kenny Baker, and Portland Hoffa Podcast! 1941-04-02 - One Long Pan Solves Charlie Chan's Murder http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.32Mb) Description: We turn to the continuing story of Kenny Baker. Exiled from his home with Jack Benny, and set adrift, only to find a friendly port at the Fred Allen Show. We are about half way through the surviving Fred Allen shows that feature Kenny. Enjoy!
7. FRIDAY WITH PHIL HARRIS & ALICE FAYE PODCAST! 1948-11-14 - New Drug http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.06Mb) Description: Today's episode is from 60 years ago today!Rexall gained national exposure through its sponsorship of two famous classic American radio programs of the 1940s and 1950's: Amos and Andy and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Both shows were often opened by an advertisement from an announcer portraying "your Rexall family druggist," and included the catch phrase "Good health to all from Rexall." They also sponsored the Jimmy Durante Show and there are references by character Mr. Peavey in some of the Great Gildersleeve radio shows.
8. BOB HOPE PODCAST - 1938-11-01 - Guest - Martha Raye http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.61Mb) Description: Martha Raye Born: August 27, 1916 \| Died: October 19, 1994 Born Margaret Teresa Yvonne Reed in Butte, Montana, in 1916, Martha began as a singer and comedy performer early in her life. She was born backstage at a local vaudeville theatre in Butte, Montana where her Irish immigrant parents, Peter Reed and Maybelle Hooper, were performing as “Reed and Hooper”. Two days after Martha was born, her mother was back doing the act, and Martha began performing in the act when she was three years old. She performed with her brother, Bud, and soon the two children became such a highlight that the act was renamed “Margie and Bud”. She continued performing from that point on and once attended the Professional Children's School in New York City. Her formal schooling, however, was so minimal and only got as far as the fifth grade. Often she had to have scripts and other written documents read to her by others. Martha Raye was best known for the size of her mouth, which appeared enormous in proportion to the rest of her face. It relegated her motion picture work to largely supporting comic parts. She became known as “The Big Mouth” and apparently she was often made up in a way which tended to cause it to appear as even larger than it actually already was. For example, she appears in the picture “The Big Broadcast” of 1938 where Bob Hope first sings what became his theme song, “Thanks for the Memories;” however, it is not sung to Ms. Raye, but rather to the female leading actress that she supports. Her title as “The Big Mouth” made her a natural to be the spokesperson for Polident denture cleanser in the 1970s and 1980s. Martha Raye was an early television star and briefly had her own program, “The Martha Raye Show.” The show lasted only two seasons from 1954-1956. In the 1960's and 70's, she did a series of guest appearances on television shows, and it was during this time she landed the part of Mel's mother, Carrie, on “Alice.” Raye's personal life was unsteady as she married seven times throughout her life, with most of her marriages lasting less than two years and her first marriage lasting only three months. Her fourth marriage produced her only child, a daughter Melodye. Overcome with depression and health problems, she attempted suicide in 1956 but was unsuccessful and gradually made a full recovery. She died at age 78 in Los Angeles, California, of pneumonia after a long history of cardiovascular disease. She also suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had lost both legs the year before her death due to circulatory problems. Due to her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, Martha was given a burial with full military honors at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
9. JACK BENNY - 1938-11-13 - Madame Zombie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.34Mb) Description: 70 years ago today! Jack talks about being elected dog catcher of Beverly Hills, his desire to be mayor, and making money by teaching violin. Phil is late, so Jack tells the gang about his scheme to make Phil jealous by taking Barbara out to the Wilshire Bowl. Phil arrives and Jack brags about stealing Barbara from him, but Phil laughs it off. Jack tells Phil that Barbara sent him roses, and Phil tells Jack that is only because he told her that Jack had died. Jack wonders if Barbara really likes him, and Mary whispers a plan to Jack so he can find out. He and Mary leave the studio with Rochester to pursue Mary's plan, which ends up being a visit to a fortune teller, Madame Zombie. As the Madame is busy, the trio waits for her, but Rochester is afraid and eventually runs out to the car. When they get to talk to Madame Zombie, she sees Barbara kissing another man. In this exchange, Ella Fitzgerald's "A Tisket, A Tasket" is referenced. Rochester does the closing announcement of the program number.
10. JACK BENNY - 1948-10-31 - Jack Goes Trick or Treating http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.30Mb) Description: Tired of getting my account stopped, so now I'm paying for more bandwidth.
11. JACK BENNY - 1938-11-06 - The Crowd Roars.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.76Mb) Description: 70 years ago today!
12. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-23 - Algiers http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.40Mb) Description: The 1938 movie Algiers was most Americans' introduction to the picturesque alleys and souks of the Casbah. It was also the inspiration for the 1942 Warner Brothers movie Casablanca which was written specifically for Hedy Lamarr in the female lead role. However, MGM refused to release Hedy Lamarr despite all efforts by Warner Brothers. The invitation "Come with me to the Casbah," which was heard in trailers for Algiers but not in the film itself, became an exaggerated romantic overture promising exoticism and mystery, largely owing to its use by Looney Tunes cartoon character Pepé Le Pew, himself a spoof of Pépé le Moko. The amorous skunk used "Come with me to ze Casbah" as a pickup line. In 1954, the Looney Tunes cartoon "The Cat's Bah" specifically spoofed Algiers, with the skunk enthusiastically declaring, "You do not have to come with me to ze Casbah.... We are already 'ere!"
13. The Jack Benny Podcast! 1948-10-10 - Jack and the Gang Listen to the World Series http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.64Mb) Description: Still going...
14. Saturday with Dennis Day! 1948-10-09-FootballPlays - A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.70Mb) Description: And we're back...
15. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-16 - Farewell to the Old Studio. http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.67Mb) Description: 70 Years ago this week! Radio was at it's peak and Jack and the gang do one last show at their old studio before relocting to NBC's brand new studio! The West Coast Radio City opened in 1938 and served as headquarters to the NBC Radio Networks' (Red and Blue) West Coast operations. It served as a replacement for NBC's radio broadcast center in San Francisco, which had been around since the network's formation in 1927. Since NBC never owned a radio station in Los Angeles, the network's West Coast programming originated from its San Francisco station (KPO-AM, which later became KNBC-AM, and is now KNBR).
16. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-09 - Yellow Jack http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.08Mb) Description: Jack and the gang from exactly 70 years ago today! Jack Benny Back On Radio With New Dramatic Plays [from a newspaper of Oct. 9, 1938] Jack Benny, a fugitive from a Summer resort mosquito, will present his own version of the film success, "Yellow Jack," during the broadcast with Mary Livingstone, Kenny Baker, Don Wilson, and Phil Harris' orchestra over the NBC-Red network on Sunday at 7:00 p.m., EST. With this presentation of this epic of the Cuban swamps, the Benny theatre project will launch another of its seasons of dramtic repertorie to replace the Punch and Judy show. At present Benny is too busy squashing the rumors that he will play the title role in "Yellow Jack" to make comment on his season's plans. Ever since Jack posed as the leader of the drawfs in "Snow White," he has avidly been searching for another vehicle in which he can be called "Doc." Therefore, Jack magnanimously leaves the leading role of sergeant to Phil Harris, to play Doctor Jack, the insect killer. In addition to making his season's bow on the program, Andy Devine, the only member of the Benny gang who appeared in the film version of "Yellow Jack," will tackle the dual duties of playing a soldier and acting as technical advisor for the Benny drama. He will head a squad composed of Kenny, Don and Rochester. Mary Livingston will play the nurse whose fondness for Doc Benny is exceeded only by her affection for the rest of the soldiers in the medical corps. Kenny Baker, who recently had a little trouble in Mayor Andy Devine's Van Nuys traffic court, will sing "I Used to be Color Blind." Phil Harris and the orchestra, with an eye to getting in solid with the boss, will play "What Have You Got That Gets Me?" from Jack's new picture "Artists and Models Abroad."
17. Burns and Allen Podcast! 1948-10-07 Kleptomaniacs http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 16.03Mb) Description: George and Gracie from 60 years ago this week!
18. The Jack Benny Show Spotlight Podcast! 1936-11-01 - The Minstrel Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.15Mb) Description: One of Jack's most controversial episodes. This is the first time we really hear Phil Harris jump into the part and begin to point to the true impact he will have in future episodes. It is also Cliff Nazarro's first surviving appearance on Jack's show. He will later become well known to radio audiences for his fast talking double talk gibberish. Although he appeared in scores of films, diminutive comedian Cliff Nazarro was better known as one of the last of the great minstrel performers. Highly politically incorrect by today's standards, Nazarro's blackface act came with such songs as "Is I in Love (I is)," yet despite the ill-repute of blackface performers today, a poster from "Cliff Nazarro's Modern Minstrels" remains a best seller on Internet auctions. Nazarro later developed a famous double-talking act, which he performed both on Fred Allen's radio program and in several films, notably (and quite incongruously), the 1941 Hopalong Cassidy entry In Old Colorado. He died in 1961. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
19. Monday with Mel Blanc Podcast! 46-10-01 Mr Owens Visit http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.49Mb) Description: Here is the episode form 62 years ago this week!
20. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1948-10-03 - Jack Returns to America by Ship and Hears an Echo http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.43Mb) Description: 60 years ago this week, The Jack Benny Show season premiere from 1948! Sunday night at seven!
21. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 1948-10-02 The Runaway A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.78Mb) Description: From 60 years ago this week,enjoy another day in the life of Dennis Day!
22. Friday with Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, and Kenny Baker Podcast! 1941-03-26 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 13.13Mb) Description: Fred, Portland, and Kenny have a great show as usual! The picture I found for this weeks podcast is the best I have ever seen of Fred and Portland. Their love for each other really shows. Come to the website to have a look, if you are reading this on itunes.
23. Friday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye Podcast! 1948-10-03 - First Show for Rexall http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.87Mb) Description: Wow! Phil's premiere for Rexall from exactly 60 years ago today!
24. The Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-10-02 - The First Show of the Season & Lux Theater 1938-09-26 Seven Keys to Baldpate http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.75Mb) Description: 30's Thursday! 70 years ago to the day! The Jack Benny Show 1938 season opener and a special Lux Theater bonus, "Seven Keys to Baldpate" starring Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone!
25. Bob Hope Podcast! 1938-09-27 - Guest - Constance Bennett.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.51Mb) Description: 30's Thursday! 70 years ago this week! Thought I might start posting some Bob Hope shows. Here is his season premiere from 1948!
26. Burns and Allen Podcast! 1948-09-30 The New Neighbors http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.82Mb) Description: Wednesday with Geoge and Gracie! From exactly 60 years ago this week! Burns and Allen had several regulars on radio, including Toby Reed, Gale Gordon, Bea Benaderet, Mary "Bubbles" Kelly, Ray Noble, singers Jimmy Cash and Tony Martin and actor/writer/director Elliott Lewis. The Sportsmen Quartet (appearing as "The Swantet" during the years the show was sponsored by Swan Soap) supplied songs and occasionally backed up Cash. Meredith Willson, Artie Shaw and announcers Bill Goodwin and Harry Von Zell, who were usually made a part of the evening's doings, often as additional comic foils for the duo.
27. Western Wednesday Podcast! Gunsmoke 1952-12-27 The Cabin http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.56Mb) Description: Gunsmoke was often a somber program, particularly in its early years, and this is one of the very darkest of episodes, not for the young of faint of heart. Dunning writes that Dillon "played his hand and often lost. He arrived too late to prevent a lynching. He amputated a dying man's leg and lost the patient anyway. He saved a girl from brutal rapists then found himself unable to offer her what she needed to stop her from moving into... life as a prostitute." (Dunning, 304) Some listeners, such as vintage radio authority Dunning, have argued that the radio version of Gunsmoke was far more realistic than the TV series. Episodes were aimed at adults and featured some of the most explicit content of their time, including violent crimes, scalpings, massacres, and opium addicts. Many episodes ended on a somber note, and villains often got away with their crimes. Nonetheless, thanks to the subtle scripts and outstanding ensemble cast, over the years the program evolved into a warm, often humorous celebration of human nature.
28. The Jack Benny Show: Spotlight Podcast 6! 1936-10-04 - Phil Harris' First Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.63Mb) Description: The very first appearance of Phil Harris on the Jack Benny Show! In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny (later renamed The Jack Benny Program), singing and leading his band and – when his knack for snappy one-liners became apparent – joining the Benny ensemble playing Phil Harris, scripted as a hipster-talking, hard-drinking, brash Southerner whose good nature overcame his ego. His trademark was his jive-talk nicknaming of the others in the Benny orbit. Benny was "Jackson," for example; Harris's usual entry was a cheerful "Hiya, Jackson!". He usually referred to Mary Livingstone as "Livvy" or "Libby". His signature song, belying his actual Hoosier roots, was "That's What I Like About the South." His comic persona -- that of musical idiot -- masked the fact that the Harris Band evolved into a smooth, up-tempo big band with outstanding arrangements.
29. Monday with the Mel Blanc Show! 1946-09-24 Colby's Water Heater http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.96Mb) Description: From 62 years ago this week! Mel Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Studios (the subsidiary of Warner Brothers Pictures which produced animated cartoons) in 1936. He soon became noted for voicing a wide variety of cartoon characters, including Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and many others. His natural voice was that of Sylvester the cat but without the lispy spray (you can hear it in an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, which also featured frequent Blanc vocal foil Bea Benaderet; in his small appearance, Blanc plays a vexed cab-driver). Though his best-known character was a carrot-chomping lagomorph, Blanc claimed he was allergic to raw carrots. No other vegetable produced the desired crunch, however, so Blanc would chomp a raw carrot, say his lines, and then hawk a mouthful of chewed carrot in a convenient wastebasket. He also once claimed to dislike doing the voice of Yosemite Sam; it was rough on the throat. A near-fatal car accident in 1961 put Blanc in a coma, prompting over 15,000 get-well cards from anxious fans, including some addressed only to "Bugs Bunny, Hollywood, USA". Blanc reports in his autobiography that he was awakened from the coma by a clever doctor who addressed him as Bugs Bunny, and therefore credits Bugs with saving his life. Blanc died in Los Angeles, California, and is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. The inscription on his gravestone, one of the most famous epitaphs in the world, reads, "THAT'S ALL FOLKS."
30. Jack Benny Show Podcast! 1938-05-15 - Jack Buys a Racehorse/Murder in the Library http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.37Mb) Description: One of my favorite Benny episodes of all time, the first 8 minutes about Jack's horse are amazing!!! Man o' War made an impressive racing debut at Belmont Park on June 6, 1919, winning by six lengths. Three weeks later he won the Keene Memorial Stakes. In the early 1900s, there were no starting gates. Jockeys circled around but then gathered their horses in a line behind a flimsy piece of webbing, known as the barrier and were sent away when it was raised.[4] In Man o' War's only loss, the Sanford Memorial Stakes, he still was circling with his back to the starting line when the barrier was raised (though other accounts give other reasons, such as it was rigged.[5]) After the jockey got Man o' War turned around, he already was far behind the pack. In frustration, Johnny Loftus, the jockey, made three major errors while in the race. Three times he put Man O' War in bad positions, getting boxed in by other horses in the race. Despite this, he still came close to winning, losing by only a half-length, as Man O' War charged across the finish line, going much faster than any other horse on the field, and ultimately finishing second. The horse that won was Upset, whose name is sometimes thought to have popularized a new phrase in sports ("upset" meaning an upstart beating the favorite). Man o' War finished his 2-year-old campaign winning 9 of 10 races. [edit]As a 3-year old In 1920, Johnny Loftus was denied a renewal of his jockey's license by the racing commission and was replaced as Man o' War's rider by Clarence Kummer. Loftus would retire and become a trainer. At 3, he was a strapping 16.2 hands (about 5-foot-6) and weighed about 1,125 pounds with a 72-inch girth. That May, 3-year-old Man o' War was not entered in the Kentucky Derby because his owner did not like racing in Kentucky and believed it was too early in the year for a young horse to go a mile and a quarter. The previous year, Sir Barton had won the first-ever U.S. Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, though it was not yet called that at the time.[6] It would gain that prestige and importance 10 years later when Gallant Fox accomplished the feat under a great deal of media attention. Man o' War in the 1920 Stuyvesant Handicap After handily winning the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland, the horse was sent to Elmont, New York for the Belmont Stakes. Man o' War won the then-1 3/8th miles race by 20 lengths, setting another American record with a time of 2:14.20, beating Sir Barton's mark set in the previous year by over 3 full seconds. That year he also won the Dwyer Stakes, the Travers Stakes, the Stuyvesant Handicap, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. As the racing season wound down, no one wanted to race his horse against the seemingly invincible Man o' War, who had easily won every race he entered. At the Lawrence Realization Stakes, no other horse was willing to go up against him until finally a good racehorse named Hoodwink was good-heartedly entered by Mrs. Riddle's niece, Sarah Jeffords. Man o' War won by an astonishing margin in excess of 100 lengths (some say more) while setting a new world record of 2:40 4/5 for a mile and five-eighths, besting the previous record by a full 6 seconds. His record still officially stands at the track. The final start of Man o' War's illustrious career came in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in the Kenilworth Park Gold Cup, a race that for the first time was filmed in its entirety. For this 1¼ mile match race, Man o' War was up against the great Sir Barton but easily drew away in the first furlong, showing a decided superiority to the first Triple Crown winner, and was slowed to win by 7 lengths. Following his undefeated season of 11 straight wins, the superstar horse was shipped to Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, to stand at stud. Over his two-year career, Man o' War won 20 of 21 races, setting three world records, two American records and three track records. (*The Kenilworth Park Gold Cup was in actuality a "match race" between Sir Barton and Man o' War. Another champion horse, Exterminator, was invited to compete in the race, since Canada did not allow match races. Due to the owners of the three not coming to a compromise on the conditions of the race, Exterminator was scratched, and in fact raced that same day on a different track.)
31. Saturday with Dennis Day Podcast! 1948-09-25-The New Boarder - A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.61Mb) Description: Exactly 60 years ago this week! Sorry didn't have time for intro to this one.
32. Friday with Phil Harris and Alice Faye! 1948-05-23 - Back From Lake Arrowhead http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 21.36Mb) Description: Sorry this is so late, my upload wouldn't work.
33. Burns and Allen Podcast! 1943-11-02 Gracie Blackmails Jack Benny http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 20.63Mb) Description: In 1929 they made their first radio appearance in London on the BBC. Back in America, they failed at a 1930 NBC audition. After a solo appearance by Gracie on Eddie Cantor's radio show, they were heard together on Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour and in February 15, 1932 they became regulars on The Guy Lombardo Show on CBS. When Lombardo switched to NBC, Burns and Allen took over his CBS spot with The Adventures of Gracie beginning September 19, 1934. The title of their top-rated show changed to The Burns and Allen Show on September 26, 1936. When ratings began to slip in 1940-41, they moved from comedy patter into a successful sitcom format, continuing with shows on NBC and CBS until May 17, 1950. As in the early days of radio, the sponsor's name became the show title, such as Maxwell House Coffee Time (1945-49).
34. The Jack Benny Show: Spotlight Podcast 5! 1935-11-03 - Kenny Baker's First Show! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 8.43Mb) Description: Kenny Baker (entertainer) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kenny Baker from the film Stage Door Canteen (1943) Born Kenneth Laurence Baker September 30, 1912 Monrovia, California Died August 10, 1985 (aged 72) Solvang, California Occupation Film actor, singer This article is about the American singer and actor. For other persons with this name, see Kenny Baker (disambiguation). Kenneth Laurence "Kenny" Baker (September 30, 1912 – August 10, 1985) was an American singer/actor who first gained notice as the featured singer on Jack Benny's radio shows during the 1930s. At the height of his radio fame, and after leaving the Benny show in 1939 (succeeded by Dennis Day, whose lilting tenor was similar to Baker's), he appeared in seventeen film musicals (At the Circus, The Harvey Girls) and later co-starred with Mary Martin in the original Broadway production of Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's One Touch of Venus. He returned to radio as a regular performer on Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theater program of 1940-1942. Baker also recorded a number of hymn albums for his church. After retiring from performing in the early 1950s, he became a Christian Science practitioner and motivational speaker.
35. Monday with the Mel_Blanc Show! Podcast 3 - 46-09-17_Mel Bakes A Prizewinning Putty Cake http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 5.58Mb) Description: Mel Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989), was born in San Francisco, California. His ability to create voices for multiple characters first attracted attention when he worked as a voice actor in radio. He was a regular on the Jack Benny Program in various roles, including Benny's automobile (a Maxwell in desperate need of a tune up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, and Benny's pet polar bear Carmichael. Blanc's success on the Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS radio network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946 to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner a fix-it shop, in addition to a wide range of comical support characters. Other regular characters were played by Mary Jane Croft, Joe Kearns, Hans Conried, Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus and Bea Benaderet. Blanc also appeared on other national radio programs such as Burns and Allen as the Happy Postman, August Moon on Point Sublime, Sad Sack on G.I. Journal, Floyd the Barber on The Great Gildersleeve, and later played various small parts on Benny's television show. Blanc's most famous role on Benny's TV show was as "Si, the Mexican" in which he spoke one word at a time. The famous 'si-sy-sue' routine was so hilarious that no matter how many times it was performed, the laughter was always there. Another famous Blanc role on Jack's show was the Train Depot announcer who always said the phrase: "Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga". What made that phrase so funny was the spacing between "Cu.." and "...camonga" -- sometimes minutes would pass while the skit went on, the audience awaiting the inevitable conclusion of the word. For his contribution to radio, Mel Blanc has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Blvd.
36. The Jack Benny Show: Podcast 7! 1938-05-01 - House Construction http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.91Mb) Description: Another fantastic episode. Jack Benny was really having a house built. This was the famous home that he lived in for years. He had talked about it all season on the show, now was the audience chance to join him, Mary and Dennis on a tour of the house. Frank Nelson is our tour guide. One of my favorite episodes!
37. Saturday with Dennis Day! Podcast 1 - A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day! 48-09-18 Out On The Town http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.45Mb) Description: Cool! The first episode from the 1948-1949 Season! Exactly sixty years ago this week! It was even broadcast on a Saturday night! My father was 20 years old and TV's dominance was still a couple of years away.
38. Friday with Phil Harris, Jack Benny, and Alice Faye! Podcast 3 - 1947-12-21 - Annual Christmas Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.77Mb) Description: PHIL HARRIS & ALICE FAYE Phil's band was formed in the 1920's and was very popular, mainly due to his strong personality as a band leader. Phil became the band leader for the Jack Benny show, which was Phil's springboard to his own show. During this time Phil also continued to appear on the Jack Benny Program. In 1949 when Benny moved to CBS the distance between the studios (Phil was at NBC), created a problem. So, Phil was scripted in the first half of each Benny show so he could make it on time for his own show which aired back-to-back. Alice Faye first met Phil when she was singing with Rudy Vallee. And it couldn't have been love at first sight because her face was wrapped in bandages, the result of an accident. Phil and Alice were married in 1941. Phil and Alice played themselves on the show (Phil was indeed a leading bandleader, and Alice Faye was a film star). There really was a Frank Remley and he auditioned but it was decided he wasn't a good enough actor so Elliott Lewis got the part, playing the character of a hard-drinking guitar player in the band. Walter Tetley (formerly LeRoy on "The Great Gildersleeve") played Julius Abbruzio, the local grocery store delivery boy. Gale Gordon, who at one time played the various serious role as The Whistler, turned to his better-known comedic side and starred as Mr. Scott of the Rexall Drug Company. Rexall Drugs was an actual sponsor on the show and Gale Gordon's references to the company on the series eliminated the need for one of the commercial breaks. The series ran from 1946 to 1953 on NBC.
39. The Jack Benny Show: Spotlight Podcast 4! 1934-08-03 - Schlepperman's first show! The Stooge Murder Case http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.45Mb) Description: This is the first time Sam Hearn plays the Schleppermam character that will be used for many years on the Benny show. Sam entertained the troops as Schlepperman during WWII, and that is where the picture above comes from, and the following caption. Boy, Did That Schlepperman "WOW" Them !! Applause and smiles were plentiful when patients of the Post Hospital watched the USO-Camp Show "Bandwagon" Friday on the stage of the Hospital auditorium. Headliner was the radio comedian Sam "Schlepperman" Hearn.
40. Monday with the Mel Blanc Show! 46-09-10 The Efficiency Expert http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.22Mb) Description: A famous Blanc shtick on Jack’s show was the train depot announcer who inevitably intoned, sidelong, “Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga.” Part of the joke was the Angeleno studio audience’s awareness that no such train existed connecting those then-small towns (years before Disneyland opened). To the wider audience, the primary joke was the pregnant pause that evolved over time between "Cuc.." and "...amonga"; eventually, minutes would pass while the skit went on as the audience awaited the inevitable conclusion of the word. (At least once, a completely different skit followed before the inevitable “...amonga” finally appeared.) Blanc’s success on The Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS Radio Network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946, to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner of a fix-it shop, as well as a wide range of comical support characters. Other regular characters were played by Mary Jane Croft, Joseph Kearns, Hans Conried, Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus, Bea Benaderet and The Sportsmen Quartet, who would supply a song and sing the Colgate Tooth Powder commercials. (Blanc would later work with Reed and Benaderet on The Flintstones.) Blanc also appeared on such other national radio programs as The Abbott and Costello Show, the Happy Postman on Burns and Allen, and as August Moon on Point Sublime. During World War II, he appeared as Private Sad Sack on various radio shows, most notably G.I. Journal. The character of Sad Sack was a bumbling Army private with an even worse stutter than Porky Pig. ("I'm Lieutena-eh-Lieutena-eh-Capta-eh-Majo-eh-Colone-eh-p-p-Priva te Sad Sack.")
41. The Jack Benny Show: Podcast 6! 1938-04-24 - Snow White and the Seven Gangsters http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.31Mb) Description: Disney's wife, Lillian, told him: "No one's ever gonna pay a dime to see a dwarf picture."[5] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937 to a wildly receptive audience, many of whom were the same naysayers who dubbed the film "Disney's Folly." The film received a standing ovation at its completion from a star-studded audience that included such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Burns and Allen, Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, John Barrymore, and Marlene Dietrich. Six days later, Walt Disney and his magical seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The New York Times said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney." RKO Radio Pictures put the film into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a major box-office success, making more money than any other motion picture in 1938. In fact, for a short time, Snow White was the highest-grossing film in American cinema history; it was ousted from that spot by Gone with the Wind in 1939. Adjusted for inflation, and incorporating subsequent releases, the film still registers one of the top ten American film moneymakers of all time. [6] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature film to be made (not counting the Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons), and won an honorary Academy Award for Walt Disney "as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field." Disney received a full-size Oscar statuette and seven miniature ones, presented to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple. The film was also nominated for Best Musical Score. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis. Noted filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Charlie Chaplin praised Snow White as a notable achievement in cinema.[7] The film inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce its own fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz in 1939. The 1943 Merrie Melodies short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, directed by Bob Clampett, parodies Snow White by presenting the story with an all-black cast singing a jazz score. Snow White was such a success that Disney went on to produce 18 more full-length animated feature films during his lifetime.[8] It has been well documented[citation needed] that Adolf Hitler watched this film with a roomful of children, and was delighted by Disney's adaptation of the German fairy tale. Hitler supposedly offered Disney anything he wanted in exchange for Disney's creation of feature-length animated features in Germany. Though this is the basis for the Walt Disney as a Nazi rumors, Disney's biographer Bob Thomas proves that Disney declined Hitler's invitation, and in fact soon entered production on such anti-German projects as Der Fuehrer's Face and Victory Through Air Power. On February 22, 2008, William Hakvaag, owner of Lofoten War Museum, said he found four watercolor paintings with Disney motifs hidden inside a painting signed "A. Hitler" that he purchased at auction.[9] Three of them featured dwarfs and Hakvaag claims these have been signed by Hitler himself,[9] while the last one was an unsigned painting of Pinocchio.[10]
42. Saturday with Dennis Day! Podcast 0 1946-10-03 - 0001 The Masquerade Ball http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 9.20Mb) Description: Dennis Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Benny's radio and television programs until Benny's death in 1974. He was introduced (with actress Verna Felton playing his mother) as a young (nineteen year old), naive boy singer — a character he kept through his whole career. His first song was "Goodnight My Beautiful". Besides singing, Dennis Day was an excellent mimic. He did many imitations on the Benny program of various noted celebrities of the era, such as Ronald Colman, Jimmy Durante, and Jimmy Stewart. Sam Berman's caricature of Dennis Day for 1947 NBC promotional book From 1944 through 1946, he served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant. On his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring his own show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946-1952). Day's having two programs in comparison to Benny's one was the subject of numerous jokes and gags on Benny's show, usually revolving around Day rubbing Benny's, and sometimes other cast members and guest stars' noses in that fact.
43. Friday with Phil Harris, Alice Faye, and Jack Benny! Podcast 2- 1947-03-09 - Will Jack Benny Renew Phil's Contract http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 19.15Mb) Description: The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Part 2) Co-writer Ray Singer told historian Gerald Nachman, for Raised on Radio, that he and his partner Dick Chevillat thought they had a "writer's paradise" working for Harris and Faye. "Phil was the kind of guy who loved living, and didn't want to be bothered with work or anything else. He left us alone. We never had to report to him. He never knew what was gonna happen. And it was left in our hands. It spoiled us for everybody else." Harris and Faye stayed with NBC rather than succumb to the CBS talent raids of the late 1940s that began when Harris' former boss, Jack Benny, was lured to CBS and took a few NBC stars (including George Burns and Gracie Allen) with him. NBC offered the couple (as well as Fred Allen) a lucrative new deal to stay, though occasionally Harris would allude to Benny's network switch on the Harris-Faye show. (Typically, Harris would crack an odd joke and then say, "I gotta give this one to Jackson! It might bring him back to NBC.") Despite the network conflict and a grueling schedule, Harris continued to appear on Benny's show through 1952. While several radio programs were being transferred to television during the show's lifetime, one episode ("The Television Test") comically exaggerated how terribly the audience would receive Phil on the small screen: Producer 1-"Do you think it's wise to let the public see what Harris looks like?" Producer 2-"Oh, he doesn't look that bad." Harris and Faye were not averse to appearing on radio outside their comic personae. At the height of their radio show's popularity, the couple made a memorable appearance on the CBS mystery hit, Suspense, in a 1951 episode called "Death on My Hands." This performance was something of a family affair: Elliott Lewis was also the main director of Suspense during this period. The title alluded to an accidental shooting local people assumed to be murder. Harris played an outback-touring bandleader playing a high school dance and accosted back at his hotel by an autograph-seeking girl. As she reached for a photo in an open suitcase, the suitcase fell to the floor, and a pistol inside discharged, shooting her to death and provoking a local lynch mob. Before the dance, he'd bumped into Faye as his former band singer, who wandered the country for six years; after the dance, she sought to help him convince the town of the truth. Harris and Faye also did the occasional stage tour during their radio years, including a tour with Jack Benny in the early 1950s. Nachman and other old-time radio chroniclers have noted the couple shied from television mostly because the pace and complexities of working the new medium would have been too time consuming; radio allowed them, in effect, to work part-time while raising their children full-time. Just wild about Harry When Harris and his band were invited to perform at President Harry S. Truman's inaugural in 1949, the Harris-Faye writers scripted a playful show in which Harris the character steamed over a lack of invitation to the Inaugural Ball. He wasn't exactly thrilled to hear his wife warbling a Truman-friendly version of "I'm Just Wild About Harry," either. But at the show's end, Harris--who often shed his radio character to speak soberly promoting worthy causes once in a while (such as Big Brothers of America, which he saluted at the end of a 1950 show)--spoke humbly about how honored he was to have received the actual invitation, inviting the show's full cast and crew to join him for the festivities. The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show remains a popular find for old-time radio lovers; many if not most of its episodes stand the test of time admirably. Well-written, cleverly delivered, it may have been somewhat ahead of its time for the sardonic side of family life on the air.
44. The Jack Benny Show: Spotlight Podcast 3! 1934-04-06 - Don Wilson's First Show! Frank Parker's Music Store http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/x-wav, 20.13Mb) Description: Don Wilson's first ever episode! First appearance of Don Bestor, and the first episode sponsored by General Tire! Don Wilson (September 1, 1900 – April 25, 1982) was an American announcer and occasional actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program. Though best known for his comedy work with Benny, Wilson had a background as a sportscaster, covering the opening of the 1932 Summer Olympics. Wilson first worked with Benny on the broadcast of April 6, 1934, concurrent with a short stint as announcer on George Gershwin's series, Music By Gershwin. At 6 feet (1.83 m) and over 200 pounds (91 kg), Wilson possessed a resonant voice, a deep belly laugh, and a plump figure, all of which would become important parts of his character with Benny. Though Wilson's primary function as announcer was to read the opening and the commercial pitches (notably for Jell-O, Grape-Nuts and Lucky Strikes), his importance to the program was as both feed and foil to Jack and other cast members. A recurring goal was his effort to get the Sportsman's Quartet singing commercial approved by Benny. On radio in particular, Wilson's girth could be exploited, both in jokes by Benny and in audio gags, such as the amount of time it took an attendant to brush Don, or masseurs charging him by the pound. Wilson rarely flubbed his lines. His most famous incident occurred in the Jan. 8, 1950 broadcast. The script called for him to refer to columnist Drew Pearson, but Wilson read the name as "Dreer Pooson." Later on in the broadcast, during a murder-mystery skit, Frank Nelson took advantage of the situation. Benny asked Nelson, "Pardon me, are you the doorman?" and Nelson, in his customary sarcastic manner, came back with: "Well who do you think I am, Dreer Pooson?," to sustained laughter and applause. Wilson also served stints as announcer for radio comedy or variety shows starring Alan Young, Bing Crosby, Ginny Simms, and Fanny Brice's comedy hit Baby Snooks. In 1946, Don Wilson was a regular on the daytime comedy Glamour Manor, opposite former Jack Benny Program regular Kenny Baker. Wilson accompanied Benny into television in 1950, remaining with him through the series' end in 1965. On television, the fat jokes were toned down only slightly, mostly because the real Wilson was not as impossibly large as the radio Wilson was described. These appearances also often involved the fictional character of Don's equally hefty, aspiring announcer son, Harlow (played by Dale White). Wilson also co-starred with Benny in Buck Benny Rides Again (1940) and voicing a caricature of himself in The Mouse That Jack Built, a 1959 Warner Brothers spoof of The Jack Benny Program directed by Robert McKimson. Other film roles included small appearances as announcers or commentators in several films, providing narration for Walt Disney's Academy Award nominated short Ferdinand the Bull, and a credited appearance as Mr. Kettering opposite Marilyn Monroe in Niagara. Wilson did frequent commercials and appeared on the Western Union Candygram commercial. His final on-camera appearance was in two episodes of the 1960s Batman as newscaster Walter Klondike (spoofing Walter Cronkite). Wilson played football for the University of Colorado in the 20's. For his size he was an excellent sportsman, and was an excellent amateur golfer teaming up with fellow NBC announcer Bud Stevens to win many matches in Southern California. Wilson was married four times. His second wife was Peggy Ann Kent, daughter of 20th Century Fox President Sidney R. Kent. They were divorced in December, 1942. The same month the divorce was final, Wilson married Polish countess Marusia Radunska. This marriage ended in divorce 7 years later. Wilson finally found a lasting partnership with fourth wife, radio actress Lois Corbet.
45. Monday with Mel Blanc! 46-09-03 The Fix It Shop For Sale http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.16Mb) Description: Born Melvin Jerome Blank in San Francisco, California, to Jewish parents, he grew up in Portland, Oregon, attending Lincoln High School. At 16, he changed the spelling of his last name from “Blank,” reportedly because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be, like his last name, “blank.” Blanc began his radio career in 1927 as a voice actor on the KGW program The Hoot Owls, where his ability to create voices for multiple characters first attracted attention. Blanc moved to sister station KEX in 1933 to produce and host his Cobweb And Nuts program. Moving to Warner Brothers-owned KFWB in Hollywood, California, in 1935, Blanc joined The Johnny Murray Show; then, in 1936, he moved to CBS Radio and The Joe Penner Show. Beginning in the late 1930s, Blanc was a regular on the NBC Red Network show The Jack Benny Program in various roles, including Benny’s automobile (a Maxwell in desperate need of a tune-up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, Benny’s pet polar bear Carmichael, the tormented department store clerk, and the train announcer (see below). One of Blanc’s most memorable characters from Benny's radio (and later TV) programs was “Sy, the Little Mexican,” who spoke one word at a time. The famous “Sí...Sy...sew...Sue” routine was so effective that no matter how many times it was performed, the laughter was always there, thanks to the comedic timing of Blanc and Benny.[2] At times, sharp-eyed audience members (and later, TV viewers) could see Benny struggling to keep a straight face; Blanc’s absolute dead-pan delivery was a formidable challenge for him. Benny’s daughter, Joan, recalls that Mel Blanc was one of her father’s closest friends in real life, because “nobody else on the show could make him laugh the way Mel could.”
46. Sunday Nights at Seven! Podcast 5 JACK BENNY - 1938-04-17 - Easter Show http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.35Mb) Description: Jack and the gang go to the circus in this great episode. With this episode and those that follow in the next few weeks, Jack and his gang really start to catch fire.
47. Friday with Phil Harris! Podcast 1 46-07-10 Audition Show_64kb http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 24.39Mb) Description: First episode of the Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show! The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Part 1) The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show Background information The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, an old-time radio situation comedy which ran from 1948 to 1954 on the NBC radio network, evolved from an earlier music and comedy variety program, The Fitch Bandwagon. Singer-bandleader Phil Harris and his wife, actress-singer Alice Faye became the earlier show's breakout stars and the show was retooled into a full sitcom, with Harris and Faye playing slightly fictionalized versions of themselves as a working radio and musical couple raising two young daughters in a slightly madcap home. Sunday stars * Alice Faye: "Oh, Phil, are you ready?" * Phil Harris: "Darn, you made me swallow a bobby pin!" Harris had been a mainstay and musical director for The Jack Benny Program; Faye had been a frequent guest on programs such as Rudy Vallée's, where she may have met her second husband Harris for the first time. (Their marriage provoked a 1941 episode of the Benny show.) They were invited in 1946 to join and co-host The Fitch Bandwagon, a musical variety and comedy show that had been a Sunday night fixture on NBC since 1933, and usually featured popular bands of the time---including Harris's own. Even though many people thought that The Fitch Bandwagon was lucky to be sandwiched in between Jack Benny at 7:00 p.m. and Edgar Bergen at 8:00 on NBC, the [show]... in fact pioneered Sunday evening entertainment programming because prior to its appearance most broadcasters felt that Sunday programming should be of a more religious or serious nature.---Frank Buxton and Bill Owen, in The Big Broadcast 1920-1950. But the growing popularity of the Harris-Faye family sketches in the show turned it into their own comic vehicle by 1947. And when announcer Bill Foreman hailed, "Good health to all... from Rexall!" on October 3, 1948, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show launched its independent life under Rexall's sponsorship, with a debut plot that recalled the fictitious day the couple signed their sponsorship deal. The show was a quick success in its own right, and staying in that powerhouse NBC Sunday lineup didn't hurt. Playing themselves as radio and music star parents of two precocious young daughters (played by actresses Jeanine Roos and Ann Whitfield, instead of the Harris's own young daughters), Harris refined his character from the booze-and-broads, hipster jive talker he'd been on the Benny show ("Hiya, Jackson!" was his usual hail to Benny) into a slightly vain (particularly about his wavy hair and the dimpled smile that always hinted mischief) and dunderheaded husband who usually needed rescuing by Faye as his occasionally tart but always loving wife. References to his wavy hair and vanity became a running gag. Harris often passed wisecracks about buddy Frank Remley's taste for the spirits, a contrast to Harris's former Benny character. The show's writers, Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat, also used Faye's experience making the ill-fated film Fallen Angel as a source of gags, to say nothing of setting up situations in which Harris was recognized (if at all) as her husband or "Mr. Alice Faye." (The show's closing credits included this from announcer Bill Forman: "Alice Faye appears through the courtesy of 20th Century Fox," which some radio historians---such as Gerald S. Nachman in Raised on Radio---believed a conscious jibe at the studio, since Faye's contract had been torn up when she walked out rather than abide Darryl Zanuck cutting her scenes in favor of Linda Darnell against his earlier promises.) Harris's radio character was also scripted as an occasional language and context mangler, six parts Gracie Allen and half a dozen parts Yogi Berra. ("Why, The Mikado never would have been written if Gilbert didn't have faith in Ed Sullivan!") The sardonic humor that laced the show was far beyond the gentility of that other show which featured a bandleader and his singing wife, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. "Good mirth to all from Rexall" Legendary character actor Gale Gordon appeared frequently as Mr. Scott, the slightly pompous and withering fictitious representative of actual sponsor Rexall (each show was bookended by a serious Rexall commercial, narrated by a sonorous, sober-sounding "Rexall Family Druggist," played by veteran film supporting actor Griff Barnett), making a distinctive relationship between the sponsor and the show. One of the show's running gags involved Scott's affected disdain for Harris, wondering just how on earth he and Rexall had consented to sponsor this philistine who should have been paying Rexall to appear on the show and not the other way around. Another involved Harris's continuous misidentifications of the Rexall brand (naming the company's trademark colors as pink and purple, rather than their familiar blue and orange, for example)---when he remembered them at all. Rexall not only didn't mind the scripts' jokes that referred to the company (mostly, without quite integrating the company more fully into a plot) or brought the company briefly into a full scene's worth of a joke, it didn't even mind that the Scott character himself could be seen as satirizing the company more than promoting it. This was rare in an era where sponsors didn't always enjoy being zapped on the programs they were paying to produce and sometimes were accused of influencing the content of the shows they sponsored heavy-handedly. Rexall sponsored The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show through 1950; after a period of self-sustaining airing, RCA Victor picked up the show through the end of its original run in 1954. That didn't stop Gordon (who was also a regular as the vain, blowhard high school principal who bedeviled Our Miss Brooks) from continuing his recurring role as Mr. Scott---this time, of course, representing RCA Victor and with the same satirical edge. The sponsorship switch to RCA also brought the Harrises a family pet, a dog---named, naturally, Nipper, a la the familiar Jack Russell Terrier (with an ear cocked to a Victrola horn, in the famous painting "His Master's Voice") that served as RCA's logo for many years. Sometimes, Harris would address the dog with a backhanded allusion to the famous painting: "Sit, boy. Listen to your master's voice." Supporting players Harris's character often as not found trouble because of buddy-guitarist Frank Remley, played by Elliot Lewis, as he had done in a lesser take on the role on the Benny show. Remley often behaved as though his sense of proportion, logic and just plain sense was left behind---essentially, the kind of character Harris had been on the Benny program. "What would you do without me, Curly?" Remley might ask Harris, who would shoot right back, "The same thing you're doing with me---be a moron!" In due course, after Harris ceased to be Jack Benny's musical director, the Remley character was changed in name only---to Elliot. Walter Tetley, a child impersonator (who did the same job playing spunky nephew Leroy on another radio hit, The Great Gildersleeve), played obnoxious delivery boy Julius, who had sarcastic one-liners for Harris and Remley and a crush on Faye---at least, until he married sponsor rep Scott's daughter. Rounding out the show's usual cast were Robert North as Faye's fictitious deadbeat, humorless but somewhat down-to-earth brother, Willy. The announcer was Bill Foreman. No episode went without two music interludes, usually an upbeat or novelty number by Harris in his friendly baritone and a ballad or soft swinger by Faye in her affectionate contralto. Occasionally, they switched musical roles, Harris taking a ballad and Faye taking a hard swinger. Though their on-air personae were that of a stumbling husband whose wife sometimes wanted to throw up her hands every time she had to rescue him from himself, Harris and Faye's genuine love for each other was evident on the show. Harris often rewrote song lyrics to work in a reference to Faye. Their marriage, a second for both, lasted 54 years until Harris's 1995 death)
48. Spotlight Podcast 2 JACK BENNY - 1933-01-01 - First Mary Livingstone - Outstanding Achievements of 1932 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/x-wav, 11.42Mb) Description: Mary Livingstone From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mary Livingstone circa 1940. Birth name Sadye Marks Born June 23, 1906 Seattle, Washington Died June 30, 1983 Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California Show The Jack Benny Program Station(s) NBC, CBS Style Comedian Country United States Mary Livingstone (born Sadye Marks, June 23, 1906, Seattle, Washington - June 30, 1983, Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California), was an American radio comedienne and the wife and radio partner of comedy great Jack Benny (né Benjamin Kubelsky). Enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husband's popular program, she proved a talented comedienne. But she also proved one of the rare performers (Barbra Streisand would prove another) to experience severe stage fright years after her career was established---so much so that she retired from show business completely, after two decades in the public eye, almost three decades before her death, and at the height of her husband and partner's fame. Contents Early Life Seattle-born but Vancouver, British Columbia raised, Sadye Marks herself came from a respected show business family: relatives included her cousins the Marx Brothers and Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean; her family name Marrix was Anglicised to Marks when the family arrived in the United States. She met her future husband at a Passover seder at her family home when she was 14; Benny was invited by his friend and her cousin, Zeppo (b. Herbert) Marx while Benny and the Marx Brothers were in town together to perform. Sadye developed a near-instant crush on the funny, somewhat shy man thirteen years her senior. But when he inadvertently insulted her by excusing himself for the night in the midst of her violin performance, she got her revenge the next night. She took three girlfriends to the theater where Benny performed, sitting in the front row and making sure not to laugh. Benny said later it drove him nuts that he couldn't get the four girls to laugh at anything. Courting Jack Benny Three years later, at age seventeen, Sadye visited California with her family while Benny was in the same town for a show. Still nursing a small crush on the comedian, Sadye went to the theater to re-introduce herself to him. As he approached her in a hallway, she smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Benny, I'm..." But he curtly cut her off with a "Hello," and continued on his way down the hall without pausing; she learned much later that when Benny was deep in thought about his work, it was nearly impossible to get his attention otherwise. They met again a few years later--while she was said to be working as a lingerie salesgirl at a May Department Stores branch store in downtown Los Angeles--and the couple finally began dating. Invited on a double-date by a friend who had married Sayde's sister, Babe, Benny found Sayde along to keep him company. This time, the couple clicked: Jack was finally smitten with Sayde and asked her on another date. She turned him down at first--she was seeing another young man--but Benny persisted. He visited her at May's almost daily and was reputed to buy so much ladies' hosiery from her he helped her set a sales record; he also called her several times a day when on the road. At the same time, Benny seemed fearful of a committed relationship and Sayde Marks continued dating other men, even becoming engaged--which panicked the comedian enough to beg her to come to Chicago--where he tried to convince her she was too young to marry. When the argument didn't convince her, Benny confessed he was in love with her and wanted to marry her himself. In a scene that could have been a later Jack Benny Program routine, she needled him about her being too young to marry. "You're not too young to marry me!" he retorted--his way of proposing. Sayde Marks broke her existing engagement and married Jack Benny in 1927; the marriage ended only when Benny died in 1974. In her biography of her husband, she revealed she didn't tell him she was the little girl he'd once needled until after they'd dated awhile. Goodbye Sadye, Hello Mary Sadye took part in some of Jack's vaudeville performances but never thought of herself as a full-time performer, seeming glad to be done with it when he moved to radio in 1932. Then came the day he called her at home and asked her to come to the studio quickly--an actress hired to play a part on the evening's show didn't show up and, instead of risking a hunt for a substitute, Benny thought his wife could handle the part . . . a character named Mary Livingstone scripted as Benny's biggest fan. At first, it seemed like a brief role--she played the part on that night's and the following week's show before being written out of the scenario. But NBC received so much fan mail that the character was revived into a regular feature on the Benny show, and the reluctant Sayde Marks became a radio star in her own right. Mary Livingstone underwent a change, too: from fan to tart secretary-foil; the character occasionally went on dates with Benny's character but they were rarely implied to be truly romantically involved otherwise. (The lone known exceptions: a fantasy sequence on both the radio and television versions of the show, as well as when NBC did a musical tribute to Jack, in which Mary admitted to being "Mrs. Benny.") Mrs. Benny soon enough displayed her own sharp wit and pinpoint comic timing, often used to puncture Benny's on-air ego, and she became a major part of the show--enough so that, giving in when she was addressed as "Mary Livingstone" often enough when out in public, she ended up changing her name legally to Mary Livingstone. Years later, her husband admitted how strange it felt to call her Sayde even in private. "Chiss Sweeze" Livingstone's honest, wisecracking style proved a perfect lancing of Benny's on-air persona as a vain skinflint. (By contrast, Portland Hoffa--the real-life wife of Benny's friend, fellow comedian, and longtime "feuding" rival Fred Allen--played a squeaky friend who usually hied Allen off to 'Allen's Alley' after a brief comic exchange.) But she was still prone to occasional flubbed lines on the show, and many became as legendary as the deliberately crafted "illogical logic" of Gracie Allen or the cleverly scripted malapropisms of Jane Ace and (as Molly in The Goldbergs) Gertrude Berg. Perhaps the best-remembered such flub was Livingstone's "chiss sweeze sandwich" order in a lunch counter sketch (the flub was referred to for several years afterwards). But nearly as well-remarked was the show on which she was to ask Jack, "How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grease rack?" Instead, Livingstone asked, "How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grass reek?" The following week, Benny devoted much of the show to poking fun at the tongue twists, chastising her for using the made up phrase "grass reek." But Jack got his comeuppance later in the show, when the show's guest, the real-life Beverly Hills police chief, was talking about the strange call the department got the night before: two skunks fighting on someone's lawn. "And let me tell you," he said, "when they were done, did that grass reek!" Mary then took great satisfaction out of making Jack admit to the millions of listeners that "grass reek" did exist ("...Boy did that grease rack!" "That's "grass wreak!"" "Well make up your mind!"). It was also mentioned in a later show when, while Christmas shopping, Mary notices a toy gas station and says that it "even has a grease rack". This was a typical example of Benny and Livingstone, and the show's writers' ability to mine classic comedy out of, apparently, nothing much. Livingstone's brother, Hilliard Marks, also factored big in the show on radio and, later, television: he produced both. Her trademark bit on the radio show (other than haranguing Benny) was to read letters from her mother, usually beginning with, My darling daughter Mary... and often including comical stories about Mary's (fictional) sister Babe (similar to Sadye's real sister Babe in name only), who was so masculine she played as a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers and worked in steel mills and coal mines; or, their ne'er do well father, who always seemed to be a half-step ahead of the law. Mother Livingstone, naturally enough, detested Jack Benny and was forever advising her daughter to quit his employ. Stage Fright Never all that comfortable as a performer despite her success, Livingstone's stage fright became so acute by the time the Benny show was moving toward television that she rarely appeared on the radio show in its final season, 1955. When she did appear, the Bennys' adopted daughter, Joan, acted as a stand-in for her mother while Livingstone's pre-recorded lines were played during live broadcasts. Livingstone made few appearances on the television version and finally retired from show business in 1958. Personal Life Many fans would be surprised when George Burns revealed in his memoir Gracie: A Love Story (1988) that George and his wife/comic partner Gracie Allen loved Jack Benny but merely tolerated Mary, whom they found vain, envious, and not very talented. Indeed, Mary in real life seemed quite different from the friendly, spunky role she played on the radio, just as her husband truly was about as far removed from the cowardly, self-centered miser he played on the show as humanly possible. According to Burns, she wanted all the things her friends had, but more and bigger, and had a tendency to demand immediate service when going into a busy salon or department store. At times, wrote Burns, when she acted too entitled, her friends would humble her by pretending she was selling them panty hose — reminding her that for all her airs, she had been a lowly lingerie salesgirl before she met Jack Benny. Jack and Mary adored each other, but their relationship was sometimes troubled by her vanity and his philandering. (Mary would later claim that Jack's famous gesture of putting his hand to his cheek began when she answered a phone call from one of his girlfriends and scratched his face shortly before a photo shoot.[1]) Her relationship with their adopted daughter, Joan, was often strained. In Sunday Nights at Seven (1990), her father's unfinished memoir that she completed with her own recollections, Joan Benny revealed she rarely felt close to her mother, and the two often argued, often at the instigation of Mary, whom her daughter has described as a deeply insecure woman. She had so many good qualities--her sense of humor, her generosity, her loyalty to her friends. She had a famous, successful, and adoring husband; she had famous, interesting, and amusing friends; she lived in luxury; she was a celebrity in her own right. In short, she had everything a woman could possibly want. When I think of her it's with sadness because I wish she could have enjoyed it all more.--Joan Benny, from Sunday Nights at Seven. Despite his affairs, Benny was so devoted to his wife that, prior to his death, he arranged to have a single red rose delivered to her every day for the rest of her life. After writing a biography of her husband, Mary Livingstone--whose surname is often spelled without the 'e,' as occurred with her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to radio--died from cardiovascular disease at her home in Holmby Hills, California on June 30, 1983--hours after receiving a visit from then-First Lady Nancy Reagan, as daughter Joan noted, where the two women enjoyed a private manicure appointment, and seven days after her 78th birthday. "The doctor said it was a heart attack," Joan wrote, "but I have always felt she just gradually faded out of life." Mary Livingstone was interred beside her husband in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
49. Sunday Nights at Seven! Podcast 4 JACK BENNY - 1937-10-24 - Jack Buys the Maxwell http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.78Mb) Description: Jack Benny's Maxwell - An antique 1923 Maxwell automobile owned by Jack Benny, the "Cheapest Man in the World" was used as a running gag on both radio (first appeared in 1937) and later on his TV comedy series THE JACK BENNY SHOW/CBS/1950-64. Jack insisted that he could always get a few more miles out of his beat up jalopy. But for all of his tinkering, the car usually drove for about 15 minutes at which time the radiator boiled over, forcing Jack to wait for the engine to cool down before moving along. Jack bought the car second-hand from a dealer called the Smiling Pilgrim. Once Jack saw his servant Rochester (Eddie Anderson) daintily sponging down the car. "For Heaven sake, Jack yelled "Why don't you use the garden hose on it?" Rochester answered, "Don't you remember the last time I used the hose on it, Boss? The fender fell off!" When the car's engine started on radio, the listening audience heard the rich asthmatic, wheezing and clinking mechanical sounds of an ancient automobile engine that was reluctant to start. Mel Blanc, (a.k.a. "the Man with a Thousand Voices"). first supplied the engine noises when the sound technician's machine failed on the air. Blanc's "P-tui, p-tui, b-lit, b-lit, p-tui" sputtering and chattering saved the skit. Jack Benny loved his impersonation of a rattletrap, coughing engine so much that he replaced the sound technicians with the talents of Mel Blanc. The black 1923 Maxwell convertible spoken of in Jack Benny's act is now on display at the Harrah National Auto Museum located at 10 Lake Street South in Reno, Nevada. License numbers seen through the years included 4X-88-61 (from a Feb. 1938 publicity photo), 269523, PU8054 and 12S9523. Mel Blanc resurrected the sounds of his sputtering Maxwell auto when he performed the voice of a remote-control vehicle that talked to three adventurous teenagers on the animated cartoon SPEED BUGGY/CBS/1973-74. [URL="http://thesmallhousehalfwayupinthenextblock.com/jackbe nny/JACK%20BENNY%20-%201938-05-15%20-%20Murder%20in%20the%20 Library.mp3"] JACK BENNY - 1938-05-15 - Murder in the Library.mp3[/URL] [URL="http://thesmallhousehalfwayupinthenextblock.com/jackbe nny/JACK%20BENNY%20-%201938-05-22%20-%20Tom%20Sawyer%201.mp3 "] JACK BENNY - 1938-05-22 - Tom Sawyer 1.mp3[/URL]
50. Podcast Spotlight 1 JACK BENNY - 1932-05-02 - Jack's First Show Ever! http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.65Mb) Description: The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, was a radio-TV comedy series which ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century comedy. With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsors General Tires, Jell-O and Grape Nuts. But in 1944, the practice of using the sponsor's name as the title faded out, and the show was then known as The Jack Benny Program. Lucky Strike was the radio sponsor from 1944 to the mid-1950s. The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948-49. There it stayed for the remainder of its radio run, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS aired reruns of old radio episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny. To discuss episodes with me feel free to visit my forum thread on Jack Benny at [url]http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=1530 09.[/url]
51. Podcast 3 JACK BENNY - 1937-06-20 - Eddie Anderson becomes Rochester - Jack's Movie http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.14Mb) Description: First episode with Eddie Anderson as the character named "Rochester". Eddie Anderson biography part 2 Anderson's first appearance on the Jack Benny Show was on March 28, 1937. In this episode, Benny and his cast were traveling by train from Chicago back to California, and Anderson (unnamed) was cast as a redcap. Anderson's first interaction with Benny was at the station in Chicago while they were boarding the train. On one of their two jokes, Benny said, "Here you are, redcap, here's fifty cents." Anderson replied, "This is a dime!" and Benny replied, "Look at your script, not the coin!" Benny later had an interaction with a different actor on the train, who laughed when Jack asked about when they would arrive in Albuquerque (indicating he had never heard of the place). In later years, Benny and Anderson referenced this conversation as having been between the two of them, and Anderson quipped, "Now if you'll give me my tip, I'll go home to my family." Anderson appeared acting as Benny's valet on the June 20, 1937 show, and from that point onward, he appeared intermittently in that role. However, it would be several years before he would be mentioned at the start of the program as part of the cast. Movies In addition to his role with Benny, Anderson appeared in over sixty motion pictures, including Uncle Peter in Gone with the Wind, Cabin in the Sky, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He reprises his Rochester role in Topper Returns, this time as Cosmo Topper's valet (though he jokes about 'Mr. Benny' in the film). Thoroughbred horse racing Anderson owned Burnt Cork, a Thoroughbred racehorse that ran in the 1943 Kentucky Derby. Death He died in 1977 due to heart disease at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles, California.[1][2] Legacy Anderson was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001. References 1. ^ "Eddie Anderson, 71, Benny's Rochester. Gravel-Voiced Comedian Noted for 'What's That, Boss?' Line Played Valet for More Than 30 Years.", New York Times (March 1, 1977). Retrieved on 2008-05-24. "Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, the gravel voiced comedian who played Jack Benny's valet for more than 30 years, died yesterday at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 71 years old and had been under treatment for a heart ailment since December." 2. ^ "Died", Time (magazine) (March 14, 1977). Retrieved on 2008-05-24. "Eddie Anderson, 71, who played the late Jack Benny's hoarse, heckling valet Rochester on radio, TV and film for more than 30 years; of heart disease; in Los Angeles. In 1937, Anderson made what was supposed to be a one-shot appearance on the Benny broadcast; the audience loved his drollery, and he became a member of the cast. Anderson constantly deflated Benny's pomposity with a high-pitched, incredulous, "What's that, boss?""
52. The Jack Benny Show: Podcast 2! 1937-05-02 - Buck Benny Party http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 6.73Mb) Description: Second episode featuring Eddie Anderson. This episode also celebrates Jack's 5th year in radio. This weeks featured player is Andy Devine. He was featured in over 75 episodes! Andy Devine From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Andy Devine Born Andrew Vabre Devine October 7, 1905(1905-10-07) Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S. Died February 18, 1977 (aged 71) Orange, California, U.S. For the Emmerdale actor, see Andy Devine (actor). Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine (October 7, 1905 - February 18, 1977) was a rotund, raspy-voiced American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick. Life and work Born in Flagstaff, Arizona on October 7, 1905, Andy Devine grew up in nearby Kingman, where his family moved when he was a year old. His father was Thomas Devine Jr., born in 1869 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Andy's grandfather, Thomas Devine Sr., was born in 1842 in Tipperary County, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States in 1852. Andy's mother was Amy Ward, the granddaughter of Commander James H. Ward, the first officer of the United States Navy killed during the Civil War. He was a star football player at Ball State University. He also played semi-professional football under the pseudonym "Jeremiah Schwartz" -- it was not his birth name as has been erroneously reported elsewhere. His football experience led to his first film role in the silent film The Fighting Football Cardinals.[citation needed] It was in 1933 on a John Ford directed picture at Universal Studios, "Doctor Bull", that Andy met his wife, Dorothy House. They were married on October 28, 1933, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and remained united until his death on February 18, 1977. Although it was at first thought that his peculiar voice would prevent him from moving to the talkies, it became his trademark and strongest selling point. Devine told people that his speech was the result of a childhood accident. (His story is that he had been running with a curtain rod in his mouth and fell, the instrument piercing the roof of his mouth, and when he was finally able to speak, he had the wheezing, duo-tone voice that would make him famous as an actor.) However, a biographer explains that this wasn't true but was one of several stories about his voice fabricated by Devine.[1] Devine's son Tad told an Encore Westerns Channel interviewer (Jim Beaver, reporting from 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival)that the accident had indeed happened but that Andy Devine himself was uncertain whether it was the actual cause of his unique vocal quality. Film, radio, and television He appeared in more than 400 films and shared with Walter Brennan, another character actor, the rare ability to move with ease from "B" Westerns to "A" pictures. His notable roles included ten films as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1937), and "Danny" in A Star Is Born (1937). He made several appearances in films with John Wayne, including Stagecoach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and as the frightened marshal in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also played "The Cheerful Soldier" in The Red Badge of Courage and the First Mate of the S.S. Henrietta in Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). While most of his characters were reluctant to get involved in the action, he played the hero in Island in the Sky, as an expert pilot who leads his fellow aviators through the arduous search for a missing airplane. His film appearances in his later years included movies such as The Over-the-Hill Gang, and "Coyote Bill" in Myra Breckinridge. Devine also worked in radio. He is well-remembered for his role as "Jingles", Guy Madison's sidekick in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, which Devine and Madison reprised on television. He appeared over 75 times on Jack Benny's radio show between 1936 and 1942, often appearing in Benny's semi-regular western series of sketches "Buck Benny Rides Again". And Devine worked in television. He played "Hap" on the TV series Flipper and hosted a children's TV show, Andy's Gang. He starred in a Twilight Zone episode as "Frisby", a talkative fibster faced with an alien invasion called "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby". He was also a frequent guest star in many television shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, Devine performed voice parts in animated films, including "Friar Tuck" in Disney's Robin Hood. He provided the voice of Cornelius the Rooster in several Kellogg's Corn Flakes TV commercials. In 1973, Devine came to Monroe, Louisiana at the request of George C. Brian, an actor and filmmaker who headed the theater department at a Louisiana university, to perform in Edna Ferber's Show Boat. Devine died of leukemia on February 18, 1977, at the age of 71, in Orange, California. The main street of his home town of Kingman was renamed "Andy Devine Avenue" in his honor. His career is also highlighted in the Mohave Museum of History and Arts in Kingman, and there is a star in his honor in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Quotation * When asked if he had strange nodes on his vocal cords, Devine replied, "I've got the same nodes as Bing Crosby, but his are in tune."
53. The Jack Benny Show Podcast 1! 1937-03-28 - A Train Trip to Los Angeles http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 7.26Mb) Description: First episode featuring Eddie "Rochester" Anderson! Eddie Anderson Biography Part 1 Eddie Anderson (comedian) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birth name Edmund Lincoln Anderson Born September 18, 1905(1905-09-18) Oakland, California, USA Died February 28, 1977 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, USA Show The Jack Benny Program Station(s) NBC, CBS Style Comedian Country United States Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977), often known as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, was an American comic actor who became famous playing "Rochester van Jones" (usually known simply as "Rochester"), the valet to Jack Benny's eponymous title character on the long-running radio and television series The Jack Benny Program. Birth and early career He was born in Oakland, California, USA on September 18, 1905 into a family of performers, Anderson began his show business career at age 14 in a song-and-dance act with his brother Cornelius and another performer. They billed themselves as the Three Black Aces. At a young age, Anderson permanently damaged his vocal cords (he had to yell loudly for his job selling newspapers), leading to his trademark "raspy" voice. Benny's ordering of his "valet" and Anderson's responses (sometimes a resigned "Yes, Boss", but just as often a snappy joke at Benny's expense) were among the weekly highlights of the long-running show. Anderson's role as a servant was common for Black leads in the popular media of that era, such as Ethel Waters in Beulah. The stereotyping of Blacks (or any ethnic group) had been standard practice in the entertainment business for generations. The relationship between Anderson and Benny became more complex and intimate as the years went by, with Rochester's role becoming both less stereotypical (in early episodes he carried a switchblade and shot craps) and less subservient (though he remained a valet), reflecting changing social attitudes toward Blacks. According to Jack Benny's posthumous autobiography, Sunday Nights at Seven, the tone of racial humor surrounding Rochester declined as a conscious decision between Benny and the writing staff during World War II, once the enormity of the Holocaust was revealed. In short, Benny didn't find such humor funny anymore, and he made an effort to erase it from the character of Rochester. The high esteem in which the two actors held each other was evident upon Benny's death in 1974, in which a tearful Anderson, interviewed for television, spoke of Benny with admiration and respect. Benny was often protective of Anderson, and this led to conflict. For instance, in World War II, Benny toured with his show, but Rochester did not, because discrimination in the armed forces would have required separate living quarters. Interestingly, though, during performances of the radio program staged before armed forces audiences at bases and military hospitals, the appearance of Rochester routinely drew enthusiastic applause that arguably often outstripped that received by other members of the cast. Stateside, a similar incident was defused by Benny when, according to reporter Fredric W. Slater, Rochester was denied a room at the hotel that Benny and his staff were planning to staying in Saint Joseph, Missouri. When it was announced that Anderson could not stay there, Benny replied "If he doesn't stay here, neither do I." The hotel eventually allowed Anderson to remain as a guest. Even though some of the humor was stereotypical, it was always done so that the racial element of the joke came from Anderson and no one else. For instance, when Jack takes a vacation, he takes Rochester along; but as a guest, not a servant, because Jack drives just as often as Rochester does. When they get to Yosemite to go skiing, Jack says "Don't wander off now, you're not used to being in the woods, you'll get lost in all the snow." Rochester replies "Who me?" Thus the race element of the joke was provided by Anderson. Among the most highly-paid performers of his time, Anderson invested wisely and became extremely wealthy. Despite this, he was so strongly identified with the "Rochester" role that many listeners of the radio program mistakenly persisted in the belief that he was Benny's actual valet. One such listener drove Benny to distraction when he sent a scolding letter to Benny concerning Rochester's alleged pay, and then sent another letter to Anderson, which urged him to sue Benny. A similar letter came from a correspondent in the South who was angered that on an episode of the radio show where Benny was sparring with Anderson, that Benny allowed himself to be struck by Anderson. Benny retorted in a letter that it would not have been humorous the other way around.
54. Christmas Is for the Family - 06 - I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day.MP3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (, 0.00Mb) Description:
55. Dennis Day - Christmas Is for the Family - 05 - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.11Mb) Description:
56. Dennis Day - Christmas Is for the Family - 04 - May Santa Fill Our Hearts.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.27Mb) Description:
57. Dennis Day - Christmas Is for the Family - 03 - White Christmas.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 4.48Mb) Description:
58. Dennis Day - Christmas Is for the Family - 02 - Jingle Bells.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 3.01Mb) Description:
59. Dennis Day - Christmas Is for the Family - 01 - Jack Benny Intro.mp3 http://jack_benny.podOmatic.co... download (audio/mpeg, 1.39Mb) Description: